Lake Stroll

At the request of my supervisor, I organised a walk for my fellow English teachers. We strolled around Lake Tama, enjoying the autumn leaves as we went, before ending up at a karaoke box to kill time before the bars open for business.

Bike, Hike & Fuji

One afternoon, we headed to the mountains on motorbike, and found a place to set up the tent after midnight. It was an ill-maintained, decrepit-looking campsite, but whether it was still in business or not, we never got to find out, as we took down camp at the crack of dawn the next morning.

Thirty minutes down the mountain road, we arrived at the trailhead, downed some canned coffee and riceballs, before setting off up the trail to Mt. Mizukagaki (2230m). We couldn't have asked for better weather, clear blue skies and mild temperatures made for a great day of hiking, and offered up some fantastic views of Mt. Fuji.

After getting down, we stopped to grab some ice-cream and freshly-made mochi (rice cakes) before taking a lovely autumny scenic route back to Tokyo.

Aomori's In the Middle of Nowhere

After finally getting back home to Tokyo in the early hours of Friday, I was off again that night for a long 9-hour drive up to Aomori. The plan was to enter the heart of Shirakami Sanchi, a UNESCO site, to camp, hike, wade through the streams, and to do some shower-climbing (climbing up waterfalls) for three days and two nights.

The waterfalls were beautiful, and the surroundings pristine. To enter the heart, a permit is required, and throughout our stay in the restricted area, we did not meet or see a single soul. It was a wonderful experience. After the trek, we spent two days sightseeing the area and enjoying the local food before hitting the road back to Tokyo.

Heading Home

So with my time on JET over, I took advantage of my courtesy ticket home to the land of pubs, country walks and roast dinners for a short respite before I start my new job in September. I love daylight saving hours, Japan should do the same thing. The sky was still light at 9pm at night?! Imagine how much more mountain I could cover with that extra time!

[On a 30-km country walk just outside of London in the Essex & Herts area.]

[Waltham Abbey Church, Essex, is apparently where King Harold II is buried.]

[A mallard in Waltham Abbey.]

[After more than five years, my dream was finally fulfilled at Toby Carvery!]

[Fields of Gold.]

[A field of flax.]

[Bangers and mash with a half-pint of cider, for my lunch on a 30km walk in the country.]

[Nice Turkish food at a local restaurant.]

[With on the house baklava!]

Hitting the Waves...

Literally.

After some homemade Mexican food the night before at their homewarming party, a friend took me surfing in Shonan, a stretch of coast of Sagami Bay in Kanagawa prefecture, and it was my first ever time doing it. The waves were rough, and areas were restricted, so all the surfing newbies were clustered together... not ideal conditions for a first-timer. I came away with a busted lip after leaving teeth marks on my friend's surfboard. Fortunately, it didn't get in the way of our lunch at the Red Lobster, which was yummy, even if the presentation was a little lacking. (http://www.redlobster.jp/index.html)

[We walked off lunch at Enoshima Island.]

FoE Forest Conservation

Friends of the Earth own a bit of forest land in my city, which is about a thirty minute bike ride from where I live, and today I signed up to help out with moving logs, cutting grass, and chopping wood. It was a first for me to wield a wood axe, and it was sweaty work, but there's just something so therapeutic about swinging an axe and splitting wood...

[One of the volunteers had brought in some taro, konjac and homemade sansho (Japanese pricklyash) miso to share.]

Meat & Camp

A military aquaintance, that I got to know during my avalanche training at Tanigawadake, Gunma, invited me for a BBQ and camp weekend at Tama Hills. It's a US Airforce recreational facility, which is closed to the general public unless they're signed in by military personnel. It used to be a munitions processing and storage facility of the Japanese Army back in World War II, but control was given to the US Forces in 1952, when the Japan Peace Treaty was put into place.

The weekend was spent eating too much meat than is healthily acceptable, cooked up in smoker grill; drinking; with just a little bit of hiking involved to help ease digestion.